Volunteer of the Month: Cantor Leigh Korn

Leigh, you are our volunteer of the month!

That’s fantastic. What a nice honor.

We are glad that you feel that way. Thank you for all of your hard work. Tell us about your volunteer activities with the ACC.

I’m on the board now, and I’m on the search committee for the new Placement Director. I’m also on the new lifecycle manual committee and I’m an ACC representative on the Joint Commission on Worship, Music, and Religious Living. That was my first regular thing.

When did you start volunteering for the ACC?

The first major thing I did was I was the concert co-chair for the San Francisco convention (in 2008). I really loved putting together a program; it was such a great way to make new connections through music. I met so many new colleagues throughout that process. I was a relatively new cantor at that time.

How did you get that job?

I was asked, I guess, because I was a local cantor to San Francisco. Roz Barak asked me.

Who was your cantor growing up?

I’m from the Bay area, Walnut Creek, California. I went to Congregation B’nai Tikva. We had a series of soloists, then Cantor Janece Cohen was our first ACC cantor. After that we had Stephen Richards, who was very encouraging, a great mentor, before I was seriously thinking about the cantorate. But he was seriously thinking about me becoming a cantor. When I came home from college he’d always say, Let’s have lunch! He was very encouraging and supportive.

What do you enjoy most about being a cantor?

What I enjoy the most is using music as an access point for people to become more comfortable and knowledgeable Jewishly. I love being the model of creative spirit and encouraging others between my choir and my band to really find their own creative spirit and find a way of including that as part of their own Jewish identity.

What makes you volunteer for the ACC?

The main reason why I want to get involved is because it’s such a worthy cause. I feel like, in all of our lives we are so busy as cantors, and I want to make sure that if I’m going to spend extra time working on things, I want to make sure it’s something I’m really passionate about. And I really think the cause of the cantorate is something that we are uniquely able to support and promote. I’m really interested in preserving our unique role in the Jewish community. I appreciate our role as – full clergy – but I don’t want to lose sight of our unique role as spiritual practitioners through music. That’s something that only we bring to the table. I’m really passionate about getting our cause out there as far as it being an integral part of communal life. Part of our work is about educating those outside our organization.

What is the biggest challenge facing our membership?

It’s continuing our unique role in synagogue life and finding the balance between being clergy people having general clergy responsibilities and still preserving our particular function as the guardians of a rich tradition and as practitioners of spiritual music.

What is your favorite part of volunteering?

To make the ACC a better organization. I loved doing the concert co-chair, I love chipping in to conduct at convention, and I love using my musical talent and being able to collaborate. I love the opportunity for musical collaboration with my colleagues, incredibly satisfying and so much fun sharing this unique role with a very select group of people and being able to bring our musical forces together to produce something very special. Volunteering with the ACC allows me to be in communication with my colleagues and hear about all the great stuff that’s going on.

What’s the best part of Conventions for you?

Part of what I love about going to conventions is learning from my colleagues. Everyone has a wealth of knowledge – people are so innovative! It’s often very unique; they are doing such great stuff at their places, and I just love learning about new repertoire and new programmatic ideas from my colleagues.

What’s your advice to our members who are dealing with employment challenges? Can someone who doesn’t have a regular pulpit volunteer in the ACC?

There’s a place for everybody. There are a lot of opportunities to volunteer in the ACC that are time-bound, and you don’t have to feel like you need to sign up for a long term project. If you feel like you’re focusing on finding a job or on your own job then you can volunteer for a short-term project. Find a way to put a little time in to contribute to something that is maybe short-term, because even just that little piece is something everyone’s going to benefit from. You don’t have to go onto the board to help the ACC, you can take on a smaller project, or work on a convention, but we need everyone’s input to make it a stronger conference. And it’s good for networking, too.

Tell us about your band:

I have a kids’ klezmer band which fantastic. It’s really made up of teens, and they play at Simchat Torah, Purim and some Shabbatot through the year. Then I have a regular worship band, all congregants, with professional arrangement. I sing better when I sing with them. They play once a month and it enhances the service. I love having that instrumental support under me.